Reference · Glossary
Rental property metrics at a glance
How investors use these metrics
Rental analysis stacks a few core metrics: income, operating expenses, debt service, and value. NOI measures operating income before financing. Cap rate relates NOI to value. DSCR tests whether NOI covers loan payments. Cash-on-cash compares cash flow to cash you invested. Together they answer different questions—no single number replaces a full pro forma.
Use consistent definitions across properties when you compare deals. Small differences in how NOI or value is defined can move conclusions more than a rounding error.
Metric glossary
| Metric | One-line meaning |
|---|---|
| Gross rent | Scheduled rent before vacancy and collection loss. |
| Vacancy / credit loss | Reduction for uncollected or empty rent—often modeled as a percent of gross. |
| Effective gross income | Gross rent minus vacancy/credit loss plus other income. |
| Operating expenses | Costs to operate the property excluding mortgage principal/interest and owner income taxes. |
| NOI | Effective gross income minus operating expenses (before debt service). |
| Debt service | Required loan payments (and any inclusions your lender defines). |
| DSCR | NOI ÷ debt service—coverage of debt from operations. |
| Cap rate | NOI ÷ value or price—unlevered income yield snapshot. |
| Cash-on-cash | Annual pre-tax cash flow ÷ cash invested—levered cash yield snapshot. |
See linked articles below for deeper dives on DSCR, cap rate, and cash-on-cash.
Where to go next
Open the dedicated explainers for DSCR, cap rate, and cash-on-cash, then try the free calculators on Veld.
Try the calculator
Estimate with your own inputs—numbers are educational, not lender instructions.
Frequently asked questions
- Which metric should I look at first?
- Start with rent and expenses to build NOI, then add financing for DSCR and cash flow. Cap rate and cash-on-cash summarize different slices of the same story.
- Are RentCast estimates in Veld guarantees?
- No. Rent and value estimates are labeled as estimates in the product and should be validated with comps and diligence.
- Can I save analyses in Veld?
- Yes—with a free account you can use Analyze and portfolio features subject to plan limits on the Pricing page.